1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus configured to reduce electric charge that is charged to a vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus configured to reduce electric charge that is charged to a device to be driven and operated by a driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a vehicle such as an automobile runs, static electricity is generated in the vehicle due to the flow of an air stream in a state that the air stream is brought into friction contact with the vehicle. Static electricity is also generated when each portion of a tire is repeatedly brought into contact with a road surface and separated therefrom along with the rotation of a wheel, when components in an engine, a brake device, or the like move relatively, and the like.
A vehicle is substantially electrically insulated from the ground due to a tire having low conductivity, and hence electric charge (in general, positive electric charge) is charged to a vehicle body or the like when static electricity is generated in the vehicle. Therefore, a structure for reducing electric charge charged to a vehicle through the passage of an electric current has been studied hitherto, and various structures have been proposed.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-181694, there is disclosed an electrostatic eliminator having such a configuration that charged silicon is filled into a case in which ceramic bodies are arranged densely in a radial fashion, and one of conductive wires connected to both sides of the case is connected to a minus terminal of a battery and the other conductive wire is connected to a vehicle body. In this type of the electrostatic eliminator, static electricity of the vehicle body is neutralized by grounding, and thus the electric charge charged to the vehicle body can be reduced.
In the related-art electrostatic eliminator as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-181694, an electrostatic eliminator having a complicated structure is required, and the electrostatic eliminator is required to be connected to the minus terminal of the battery and the vehicle body through the conductive wires, with the result that an installation space for the electrostatic eliminator is also required.
Meanwhile, when a steering device, a braking device, or the like of a vehicle is operated by a driver, the displacement of an operating device such as a steering wheel is transmitted to an actuator such as a wheel-turning device through a displacement transmitting system. As the result of the experimental study conducted by the inventor(s) of the present invention, it has been found that adverse influences on a vehicle caused by electric charge charged to the vehicle are not merely that a radio noise or the like is liable to be generated. That is, it has been found that, when electric charge is charged to the vehicle, the displacement of the driving operation is less likely to be transmitted, which influences the working of the actuator.
Note that, even when electric charge charged to a vehicle body is reduced by the related-art electrostatic eliminator as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-181694, electric charge charged to members that are engaged with each other in the steering device or the like cannot be reduced effectively. That is, depending on the related-art electrostatic eliminator, the influences on the working of the actuator caused by the difficulty in transmitting of the displacement of the driving operation due to charging of electric charge cannot be reduced.